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To the Memory of the Stong Pioneer Family
Photos by Alan L Brown - Posted June, 2008
This was the second home built by Daniel Stong. It stands in its original location in Black Creek Pioneer Village. A short walk away in the northwest corner of the Village is the Stong cemetery. Attached to a cairn there is this 1960 plaque erected by his descendants. Here's what it says:
Coordinates: 43.775056 -79.521039 |
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Daniel Stong was born in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. in 1791, a descendant of Hans Stong (Stang) of Darmstadt, Germany, who emigrated to Buck's County, Pennsylvania, in 1709.
In 1800, Daniel Stong and his parents, Sylvester Stong, 1746-1834, and Barbary Bolinger, 1769-1863, migrated to Canada.
Here on this farm, he and his wife, Elizabeth Fisher, 1798-1885, built their home in 1816. On this site he built the Stong School in 1824, and later the church known as the Townline Church.
He died in 1868, and he and his wife, with other pioneers, are buried here.
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Pioneers
Here are the visitors' comments for this page.
> Posted November 15, 2017
Hello, I agree with Margaret Stewarts early accounts, but there are historical corrections: As a widowed man, with the loss of wife Mary Ann Fisher Brace, Harvey Brace Sr. Traveled to Washington Territory with sons Harvey Brace Jr. and the family of son, Lewis John Brace. The cousinship to Patrick Burns, a Canadian businessman of relationship to Lewis' wife Mary Gibson Brace, allowed them to route via Calgary in 1879. Brace an elderly man died in Spokane and is buried there. Son, Lewis eventually followed his son John S. Brace to Seattle, who was employed by Pioneer lumberman, David Denny. Brace acquired Western Mill/Brace Hergert Mill, 1888-1923. His sons Dominic and Ben Brace continued the business which dissolved by 1988. 100 years closing Brace Lumber Company by Bill Brace and son John.
Nov.15, 2017 by Marta Brace, wife of John. [email protected]
> Posted July 10, 2017
Elisabeth Fisher Stong was my great-grandaunt x 4 and the sister of my great-grandmother x 4 Mary Ann Fisher Brace. I have been fascinated with Elisabeth since I read somewhere that during the MacKenzie Rebellion she hid rebels in a nook behind her kitchen stove chimney and when the British soldiers came to her door, Elisabeth stood there and said, "You may look for him, but you will not find him." Having seen a photographic portrait of her on the Toronto hiking trails website recently, I can just imagine her saying that defiantly. I have a photograph of Mary Ann Fisher taken probably in her thirties, after her marriage at St. James Cathedral to Harvey Brace. She was christened at the cathedral as well, which is interesting since the family seems to have been Methodist or Lutheran or something. She was baptized at St. James in 1808, or 1818 (I am getting forgetful). Mary Ann Fisher Brace moved to Wingham with her husband Harvey who had been gifted money and land there by Mary Ann and Elisabeth's father Valentine Fisher. I believe a lumber business was started by Mr. Brace and then they also invested in land and lumber in Goderich. Sadly, Mary Ann Fisher Brace died in Wingham. I have not been able to locate her place of burial. Harvey Brace remained a widower until his death. He moved to Seattle with a son, Lewis Brace - and they started a very profitable lumber business there, which still exists. Valentine Fisher, the father of Elisabeth and Mary Ann actually married again later in life - a widow from Wingham, Ontario - and was remarried at St. James Cathedral in Toronto. This church obviously meant a great deal to him. And yet his father, the patriarch Jacob Fisher, is buried near Sharon, Ontario in a tiny Lutheran church. Odd. But it's Elisabeth and her husband who really interest me the most - they and their subsequent family seem to have loved their land and stayed there forever - even their family held onto that land until the 1950s. I did not imagine that I was related to the Stongs until I read the historical notes - they used to have a grocery store here in Vancouver. Anyway, Mary Ann Fisher Brace's great-granddaughter was Sophia Nicoll Mullin. She had that pioneering spirit and owned a beautiful fur store in Toronto. She designed the fur garments herself and her husband supervised the assembly of the items. The store on Dupont Street existed until 1948 or something like that. I thought you might enjoy these extended historical notes.
Kind regards, Margaret M. Stewart [email protected]
> Posted July 13, 2008
I am the great granddaughter of Sophia Stong Deal who was born in Mifflinton, Juniata County, Pennsylvania in 1857. Her father was John Stong and there is little of that family to research. I wondered if they had migrated to Canada. I was born in 1942 and knew Sophia until she died in 1955 She told me many stories of her youth and migration across the USA by ox cart from Pa to Indiana, then by train to North Dakota, then by train to California. She lived almost 100 years and was a very good woman and a faithful Bible reader. She married into the Deal family which was part of the Brethren assembly.
Diane Deal Tollefson
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